Customer finds apparent cockroach in Saugus Border Café leftovers

Kristin Torres never intends to set foot in the Border Café again after discovering an apparent dead cockroach in leftovers she took home from the Route 1 North restaurant.

Torres, a Saugus resident, said she noticed what she believes to be a cockroach at the bottom of the cilantro dip she had ordered from the Saugus Border Café for lunch last Friday. She told the Advertiser she opened the cilantro dip at home several hours after it was served at the Border Café.

“I freaked out,” Torres said of the moment she spotted the cockroach in the food. “I was sick to my stomach and I haven’t really eaten since.”

Torres said she spoke to an employee at the Border Café who told her an exterminator was brought to the restaurant Saturday morning to clean the premises.

A supervisor apologized and offered to fully reimburse Torres and her husband for the meal, Torres said. She added that the restaurant invited the couple to come back to the Border Café and seat them immediately for a complementary meal.

Torres said a supervisor at Border Café told her that nothing like what she alleged occurred with the cockroach had happened at the restaurant before.

Out of concern for other customers visiting Border Café, Torres reached out to the Board of Health Friday afternoon to share her experience. Town Hall was closed and she ended up contacting the Health Department on Monday morning.

Torres said a Health Department representative called her after inspecting Border Café on Monday. The municipal employee told her that he found a dead cockroach but no signs of live activity, she said.

“He said the board would stay on top of the Border Café for exterminations to make sure that this doesn’t happen again,” Torres said.

Director of Public Health David Greenbaum confirmed that the matter is being investigated but declined to discuss the circumstances.

“The board is aware of the situation and any further comment will come during an open meeting,” Greenbaum wrote in an email.

Nick Seifert, the director of management development at Border Café, said the restaurant was aware of the allegations made by Torres and brought in a third party to look into any insect activity. The restaurant also notified the Board of Health, he noted.

The third party determined the Border Café restaurant is clean, Seifert said.

“We take public safety very seriously,” Seifert said, declining any further comment on the matter.

Last year the Health Department cited Border Cafe for several critical violations.

Torres said she informed the Board of Health to ensure that the Border Café is sanitary and no one has to go through what she experienced.

After finding the cockroach in her cilantro dip, Torres posted a picture of the insect on Facebook to alert as many people as possible. The post went viral with more than 5,200 shares.

Torres said some people on social media have accused her of putting the cockroach in her own meal to create a stir. She emphasized that the Border Café leftovers were in a covered container and not opened until she ate it on Friday afternoon and spotted the cockroach at the bottom of the dip.